Yellow Jacket Queens and Other Garden Surprises encourage Gardeners to wear Gloves

Views: 887

Gloves might be more essential as garden surprises appear in the spring. There are a couple of camps when it comes to gardening. You have the glove people and the “I need to feel the soil” people. I’m in the second group. I’ve learned many hard lessons over the years so, especially in the spring, now I put on the gloves to work in the garden. Our weather recently moderated enough – at least briefly before we received another 5 inches of snow the other – that I started cleaning up the main flower bed this week. 

Yellow Shock!

Besides the unreal amount of grass grown into the perennials, there were lots of cottonwood leaves blown in from our neighbor’s yard. It is an excellent mulch, so one of my main chores is to pull back the leaves so the plants can see the sun. Imagine my surprise when I nearly grabbed a yellow jacket queen! I screamed and jumped back, but thankfully she was so cold she didn’t move much. 

This solidified why I really should wear gloves. It also reminded me that these foundress queens, the young ones that were bred last year, will soon be emerging and forming new colonies. When I told the boys about nearly grabbing her, Sam said, “I’m sure I can guess her fate?” Yes, I killed her with the weeding tool. While he is a total bug nut, even he isn’t a fan of yellow jackets, hornets, and wasps since they seem to like to sting him. 

While the yellow jackets that pestered us last year died after a few freezes last fall, these mated queens are smart and seek out a protected place to hibernate. I suspect she burrowed in the leaf litter to stay safe throughout the winter. We don’t have much for appropriate trees around here. We’ll have to set out the pheromone baited traps soon to catch the emerging queens to potentially make a dent in the population. 

The Importance of Gloves

The second part to my wake up call is how important the gloves have been this year. Yes, they bug me because I can’t pick those tiny weeds that taunt me. But, they’ve also saved me when I grabbed the rose bush by accident. It’s one of the “pioneer roses”. They’re the super hardy ones that came over on the wagons way back when. It doesn’t mess around when it comes to thorns. It still came through the gloves to some degree. I know without them, I would have been seriously torn up.

And can I be gross for a moment? When I was working in the flower bed the other day our cat, our very own cat, came up and started to use the newly turned soil as a potty! I threw a hunk of grass at him to move him along. I couldn’t believe it. Actually, I thought he used everyone else’s flower beds as litter boxes. I’m joking, of course, but it’s another good reminder at why gloves are a good thing. I’ve grabbed one of those proverbial litter critters. There’s just not enough soap to make your hands feel clean after that surprise. 

As I keep making my way down the big flower bed, I’m going to keep my gloves on to protect my hands. Right now, I can work until they become so wet and cold that I have to stop. However, I can imagine how much sooner that would happen if I wasn’t wearing them. If you’re someone like me who prefers to feel the soil through your fingers, my recommendation is to buck up and don the gloves. Trust me, if you grab a yellow jacket or a prize from your favorite pet, you’ll be glad you’re wearing them. 

Meet Amy Grisak

Amy is a freelance author and photographer in Great Falls, MT who specializes in gardening, foods, and sustainable agriculture. She provides information on every kind…

Amy's Recent Posts

Leave hollow stems for native bees.
Hollow Stems for Native Bees: Leave the Garden a Little Messy
Read this post
It's important to know the allelopathic qualities of some garden plants, such as broccoli.
How to Know the Allelopathic Plants in Your Garden
Read this post

Amy's Videos

How to Safely Rid Your Indoor Plants of Pests
By Amy Grisak
Watch this video
Treating Fruit Trees for Fire Blight
Treating Fruit Trees for Fire Blight
By Amy Grisak
Watch this video

Membership Has Its Perks

Become a registered user and get access to exclusive benefits like...
  • Ask The Expert Questions
  • Newsletter Archive
  • PlantersPlace Magazine
  • Members Photo Gallery
  • Product Ratings & Reviews
  • Garden Club Samples

Here’s more information about gardening that you’re going to want